Posted on 05/17/2014 7:24:42 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The news is shocking: Patients dying on the waiting list for government-provided healthcare. But this is not a report from Canada or the British National Health Service. It’s right here in America, in the health system administered by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The problems first surfaced in Phoenix, where the wait to receive care at VA facilities had grown so long that 1,400 to 1,600 sick veterans were forced to wait months to see a doctor. As many as 40 veterans reportedly died because they couldn’t get the care they needed. VA administrators tried to cover up the problems by establishing secret waiting lists and falsifying reports.
The scandal has now spread to other veteran facilities. VA employees at an outpatient clinic in Fort Collins, Colo., falsified appointment records to hide the fact that as many as 6,300 veterans treated at the outpatient clinic waited months to be seen for treatment. In Wyoming, whistleblowers have accused officials of manipulating records to hide wait times.
VA officers in San Antonio and Austin, Texas, have been accused of similar efforts to hide long waits. And in Pittsburgh, VA officials are accused of covering up the death of several patients after the water in a VA hospital became infected with bacteria. The officials reportedly tried to hide the information not only from patients and superiors, but even from hospital staff.
Earlier this month, the American Legion called for Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki to resign. No doubt Gen. Shinseki was asleep at the switch. But the problem goes well beyond an incompetent cabinet secretary or a few corrupt local bureaucrats....
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
The VA is just a test case.
This is what government run medical care is like.
They’re just seeing how far they can go - what they can get away with.
Promise the rubes anything (”Take a round for Barack! Don’t worry, he’ll take care of you!”) and then scam them to give as little as possible.
Old con.
Fire Shinseki....Impeach Obama and charge Obama with criminal actions against veterans!!! Shinseki and Obama should rot in prison chains!!!
I partly trained as a resident in a VA. It took about one day before I realized we’re mistreating our vets in those facilities. Just give the vets a “credit card” and let them choose their doctors wherever they find them. The VA system is a colossal waste of money that harms people.
“But the problem goes well beyond an incompetent cabinet secretary or a few corrupt local bureaucrats.”
I’ll say it is. The problem with VA hospitals is that they are government run health care facilities and like all government bureaucracies they care only about drawing a paycheck and nothing about customer service. My wife’s father, a WWII vet with diabetes went to the VA hospital for treatment of his diabetes and related ailments. He would never see the same doctor more than a couple of times and the quality of care was very far below par.
Being a vet myself, my wife has sworn that the only way I will go to the VA is that if we are destitute and have no choice.
This is just a MINI-Preview of Obamacare.
And so shall all hospitals with 0bamacrap.
The VA has been poorly run for decades. It’s on par with government run hospitals all over the world.
Secret Lists.
Dying Patients.
No Care.
My best friend’s father is a retired thoracic surgeon of the VA. He used to tell me stories that made my toes curl. Said that the system was corrupt and disgraceful.
F should consider suit.
The author needs to correct himself. THE VBA and the VHA are two separate things under one department. So the wait time for compensation is not the wait time for health benefits. For health benefits you just need to show up with your 214 and enroll. The problem is getting appointments.
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Thanks,
Jim
government-run disaster is a redundancy.
Lists. Treatment withheld. Death panels, anyone? Uncle $OCIALI$M wants you…dead. You've outlived your usefulness. You're a net negative. $ubmit to the proper authorities, IR$.
Thanks from the USA - United Socialists of America
I think you’re right. I worked for a landscape crew at a VA for a few months in the 70s. At our lowly level the waste was unbelievable. We’d rake leaves, fill a pickup truck and then take them to the local dump. We’d sit at the dump for an hour or so and then arrive back at the hospital to get an early start on our morning break. After our 30 minute break (it was supposed to be 10 minutes) we’d fill the truck with leaves, spend another hour sitting at the dump, and then return to get an early start on lunch. I couldn’t understand why sitting at the dump was preferable to raking leaves, but that was how things were done.
I was told that during the summer the crew would sit on their mowers with the engines running behind a wall where their supervisor couldn’t see them. They went to more trouble to avoid work than the actual work itself. The goal was to do as little work as possible without getting in trouble.
I realize that the outdoor work has nothing to do with the medical care provided, but I can’t believe that the rot I saw was confined to the bottom.
You are correct, sir!
And my view has always been that the VA will look like the mayo clinic compared w obamadontcare
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